Significance of Knotworking from the Client's Point of View

A challenge in construction projectsisto deliver what the users and clients need. However, the clients’ first requirements may not address their real needs. The possibility to choose between multiple design solutions and the iteration of possible design solutionsare important to clients.Knotworking is suggested as a working method to give designers the possibility to iterate their designs and combine each practitioner's expertise. Knotworking is a new way to work as a group for a short period of time to accomplish a task. Itenablesthe client to take part in an early phase of design by actively commenting on and discussing solutions with designers, while obtaining realistic data from different design alternatives to help in decision-making. In the construction industry, the client's participation in knotworking is new. This study describes the client's participation in knotworking and how the client can benefit from knotworking. The data of the study consists of recordings of two one-day knots organized by the client in the early phase of design of a school building in Finland.In the knots, the client acted as an informant about the initial data and requirements and steeredthe design to fulfil the client's and users’ needs. With the help of the results of knotworking, the client was also able to specify the needs and set new goals for the design work.